The terms “wearable technology“, “wearable devices“, and “wearables” all refer to electronic technologies or computers that are incorporated into items of clothing and accessories which can comfortably be worn on the body. In some cases, wearable technology can outperform hand-held devices entirely. Wearable technology tends to be more sophisticated than hand-held technology on the market today because it can provide sensory and scanning features not typically seen in mobile and laptop devices, such as biofeedback and tracking of physiological function.
An effective wearable device has these characteristics:
- Familiar shape : the most known wearable devices are improvements of existing devices (watches) or enhancements of usual items than can be worn like shirts, necklaces, rings, glasses, helmets, etc. Users are comfortable wearing something that they usually put on.
- Natural interaction: a wearable should not be a new “touch” device. There are more input methods rather than the finger and wearable devices should allow the users to use them with natural gestures (you must not make a smart shoes with a trackpad to be controlled with the finger).
- Data Accessible: more important than the shape or design is the data collected by the device and how this can be accessed and treated. This characteristic adds more value to the user and could be disruptive is some fields of application.
With 171 million wearable devices forecast to be shipped in 2016, the wearable technology market is projected to create significant opportunities for a range of suppliers in a number of product categories. This information is based on a new report from IMS Research, an official research partner of Wearable Technologies.
Nowadays leading edge companies are exploring how to use wearable technology not only for employee wellness programs, but for other applications designed to increase and improve worker productivity. This may lead us to:
- New business processes: as wearable enters the workforce, we will find new ways to user these devices to help us make better business decisions. Business process engineers will explore new ways to reengineer old business processes in order to do that.
- Wearable Apps: new apps will be required to integrate all this data collected by wearable devices and integrate it into the business applications. As the user base grows for wearables, so will do the developer community which will bring some new and exciting use cases for wearables including some killer that will justify their need.
Conclusion
Wearable technology is here to stay and its target is not going to be only in entertainment or health areas. Companies who find a way to apply this technology on its processes will have an advantage to his competitors and will shape new standards in their industry.
At Innofis, through our R&D lab, we keep developing and analyzing new trends and technologies to cover needs that can bring added value to our customers.
The post Wearable Technology appeared first on Innofis • Online Multichannel Solutions.